The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #159670 Message #3784156
Posted By: Joe Offer
08-Apr-16 - 04:50 AM
Thread Name: Obit: Merle Haggard (6 Apr 1937 - 6 Apr 2016)
Subject: RE: Obit: Merle Haggard (6 Apr 1937 - 6 Apr 2016)
I've spent a lot of time in Bakersfield in my days - mostly when I was employed, but I've visited a number of times since I retired in 1999. Because of that, I feel a special kinship with Buck Owens and Merle Haggard - all Bakersfield people do. Bakersfield is a crummy, dirty town that smells like oil wells, but it's very proud of the Bakersfield Sound. I guess that the passing of Merle Haggard marks the death of the Bakersfield Sound. It was good music, and it will be with us a long, long time.
But for some damn reason, I always associate Bakersfield with a Donna Summer song I heard - the one with the whistles. One time when I was working in Bakersfield, that song played constantly on the radio.
Oh, and did I ever tell you about the time I was working in Bakersfield during a three-day dust storm? I was lucky to be in the only motel in town that had power.
Merle, may you rest in peace. I suppose that you and I will never swim Kern River again.
-Joe-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Pgg9p3BcRM